On October 31, Russia celebrates Sign Language Interpreters Day. The holiday also unites sign language teachers who are engaged in teaching people with hearing impairments. Currently, 132 such specialists work in the Saratov region. They are intermediaries in communication between deaf people and the rest of the world.
The training of sign language teachers in Saratov is conducted by the Faculty of Psychological, Pedagogical, and Special Needs Education, SSU, in the direction of "Special (defectological) education", the bachelor's degree profile "Sign Language teaching".
HOW TO BECOME SIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND SIGN LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS?
At Saratov University, education in the field of "Sign language teaching" is unique: students can choose the field of activity that is closer to them. They can become both sign language teachers, speech pathologists, and sign language interpreters. The teachers of the Faculty of PPIS during their studies form all the necessary competencies for this.
From the first year, students study dactylology and Russian sign language, and from the third year they master the basics of sign language translation. At the same time, the student has sufficient speech practice when interacting with children with hearing impairments in the process of various types of practices and volunteer activities. For employment in the field of sign language translation, it is necessary to confirm the qualification in accordance with the established procedure and obtain a certificate of a sign language interpreter.
Ekaterina Gorina, Associate Professor of the Department of Special Needs Education, head of the Laboratory of Inclusive Education at SSU, explains what young people who have entered the profession face and told about the training of students – future sign language teachers:
"A sign language teacher is a teacher who teaches hearing impaired children to hear and speak. The main task is to teach a deaf or hard of hearing child oral speech. There is a misconception that teachers teach such children on the basis of sign language. That's not so. The educational process is based on the word, and the Russian sign language is our assistant in case of difficulties in understanding the educational material, as well as a means of interpersonal communication of children. It is no secret that a deaf child prefers his native sign language in personal communication. But in the learning process, we must defeat or motivate him to use oral speech, "fall in love with the word." As a result, a student with impaired hearing learns oral speech, which significantly expands the possibilities of his socialization."
IMPORTANCE OF SIGN LANGUAGE
How do students prepare to interact with deaf people? E.N. Gorina replies that young people learn sign language like any other foreign language. Students accumulate vocabulary, master grammar, and engage in speech practice. The ability to communicate in sign language allows you to understand a deaf person. This is important, because such people think and perceive the world around them differently than those who hear.
In 2012, Russian sign language was officially recognized at the state level as "the language of communication in the presence of hearing and/or speech impairment, including in the areas of oral use of the state language of Russia." By law, a deaf person has the right to choose a means of communication: he may not use oral speech and communicate only using Russian sign language, he also has the right to provide state translation services (sign language translation, typhoid translation) for accompanying visits to medical, judicial and other state institutions.
In kindergarten and school, possession of at least the basics of this skill helps to explain to a child when his oral speech is only at the beginning of formation, contributes to the cognitive development of a hearing-impaired child at an early age. However, there are also cases when the formation and development of oral speech is very difficult or impossible, and here, fortunately, we have an alternative means – Russian sign language. Students study it at the university, and they acquire practice while working at school – in interaction with students and teachers.
Marina Nikitina is a classical sign language interpreter, she teaches disciplines at the university related to teaching Russian sign language, dactylology and sign language translation. A sign language teacher is both a psychologist, a speech therapist, and a defectologist in one person, Marina Viktorovna believes:
"I introduce students to an extraordinary world – the world of the deaf. It is important to hear, feel and understand people with hearing impairments. It is necessary to have a desire to help such children. We teach students to hear with their hearts."
While studying under the guidance of M.V. Nikitina, young people learn songs in sign language – this is a unique kind of art for the deaf. During the year, they study works and at the end of the semester perform at a concert together with pupils of the Boarding School for students of the adapted educational programs No. 3 of Engels.
For M.V. Nikitina, pedagogy is a continuation of the family tradition. Her father Viktor Alekseevich worked as the director of a boarding school for children with hearing impairments, and her mother Galina Nikolaevna was a teacher of Russian language and literature at school. Colleagues of M.V. Nikitina note that she managed to participate in the life of many schools for children with hearing impairments in Saratov and Engels.
"In my school years, I often visited my dad at work and videotaped holidays and events that took place at the boarding school. Then I got to know the students – my peers. During communication, I fell in love with sign language, I wanted to speak the same way and understand such people. At first, the guys themselves taught me, but then I received professional training," says M.V. Nikitina.
HOW TO RESTORE SPEECH?
Today, the vast majority of children with hearing impairments have prosthetics with implants or wear hearing aids. Many of them have residual hearing, and modern technical devices can compensate for almost any degree of hearing loss. If the device does not cope with the task, children can undergo surgery to insert a cochlear implant, which transcodes audio signals into electrical potentials and restores the ability to perceive speech.
The main task of a sign language teacher is to conduct auditory and speech rehabilitation of a child. It does not take much time to purchase a hearing aid or have an operation. Such surgical interventions have been performed in Russia since the age of 6 months. However, the formation and development of a child's auditory and speech abilities based on restored hearing is a very long process, it takes about 5-6 years, and the success of this work depends on many factors.
"First, we teach you to distinguish between sound and silence, then the child begins to perceive a limited number of words and short sentences necessary for him in everyday life. Over time, the student expands his lexical vocabulary: he learns to perceive, understand and speak phrases, short sentences, and then common ones. Of course, children with hearing impairments need hearing replacement as early as possible and the beginning of auditory-speech rehabilitation. Children who, at the time of admission to school, do not have an approximate level of auditory and speech development, have special educational needs and need special learning conditions, intensive corrective action, which is provided by a special (correctional) school. And then everyone has very different paths: someone studies according to an adapted program, someone successfully integrates into the conditions of a mass comprehensive school. Our guys are no different from their peers. They can be just as successful in life as everyone else," emphasizes Ekaterina Gorina.
THEORY IN PRACTICE
The training of sign language teachers at Saratov University began in 2017: this summer, the 3rd graduation of students took place. The opening of this profile is connected with the request of the Saratov region and the All-Russian Society of the Deaf for such specialists. SSU already had the necessary specialists to start a new profile: speech pathologists have been trained since 1990, and many graduates of other profiles - oligophrenopedagogy, special psychology, speech therapy – successfully continue to work in educational institutions with hearing impaired children.
Highly motivated students come to study for the profile of "Sign language Pedagogy": someone has experience interacting with deaf people and wants to learn how to help them socialize, someone wants to master Russian sign language. Many people are interested in the formation, correction and development of speech, which is not surprising: sign language teaching and speech therapy – auditory and speech work – are very closely related to each other. The competition for both defectological profiles is quite large: students do not regret their choice and most often go to work in their profession after training.
"When future sign language teachers get to know children, they should focus on the child's capabilities, not on his limitations. This is the approach I try to teach students. It is important for young people to find their foothold in working with children. It is difficult for someone to teach preschoolers, because this is the very beginning of the rehabilitation path and many difficulties have to be overcome. For the child himself, it should all be easy and at ease – in play and in everyday interaction. It is difficult for someone with schoolchildren - because there are already secondary developmental disorders, formed incorrect auditory–speech "habits", which can be much more difficult to correct. And someone, on the contrary, "finds himself" in practice with teenagers or in extracurricular activities," Ekaterina Gorina notes.
At the first introductory practice, students visit the Regional Sign Language Center and the Center for Education and Psychological, Pedagogical, Medical and Social Support for Children in Saratov. At the hearing center, they have the opportunity to see how the hearing research is going, to get to know the basics of audiology and hearing prosthetics more closely. At the Central Psychological, Medical and Pedagogical Commission, they get acquainted with the work of this institution, where the educational route is determined for children. Then the students undergo a summer internship at the Volodya Dubinin Children's Health and educational camp, where they become counselors for children with hearing impairments. In the third year, future sign language teachers practice in compensatory preschool institutions and in primary schools, where adapted educational programs for children with hearing impairment are implemented. At the end of their studies, students have the opportunity to conduct remedial classes on the development of speech and auditory abilities. Students interact with children of different ages.
Olga Kaymakova, a 3rd-year student of the direction of "Sign Language teaching", recently completed an internship at the Kindergarten of combined type No. 158, where she worked with hard of hearing children.
Olga notes that not everyone can understand the specifics of working with deaf children: "The most important thing in work is patience, love for children. You need to be able to find your own approach to everyone. Some guys find it very difficult to get in touch. Others, on the contrary, are very active – it is important to pay attention to everyone. I love sign language very much, I always support communication with children in it, especially when they are not understood by others."
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Colleagues and students Ekaterina Gorina and Marina Nikitina share a common cause – to help people with hearing impairments discover the world familiar to most. Sign language teachers are the first landmarks that make it possible to communicate with everyone and live a full life.
"The language of the deaf is wonderful, it is necessary for everyone who wants to open the world of their feelings and relationships, who works with deaf children and their parents. Sign language interpreters are necessary in modern society, because everyone has the right to choose an accessible and comfortable means of interaction with others. And I, wanting to get to know the "world of the deaf" closer, have been trained and know the basics of sign language, they can interact with children when I come to practice with students, but I am not a sign language interpreter. I love the word very much and I want to infect our sign language students with this love, in whose hands the child will be, and in many ways it will depend on them which path he chooses in his adult life. I want to show them how many new opportunities we can open up to deaf and hard of hearing children when they know both gesture and word!" admits Ekaterina Gorina.
Text by Daniil Pronin
Photos by Daniil Pronin and from the faculty archive
Translated by Lyudmila Yefremova
